Hard part begins for CAN hosts Equatorial Guinea

A day on from the draw for the finals of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, the hard part is beginning for Equatorial Guinea, which has just over a month to ready itself to host the tournament.
Question marks surround the small Central African state's ability to stage the competition without any logistical hiccups after it was chosen as host for the January 17 to February 8 event only last month.
Equatorial Guinea stepped in following the decision to strip Morocco of the right to host the event after it expressed fears over the threat of Ebola being transmitted by visiting supporters and requested a postponement.
The third-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, held in an iron grip by president Teodoro Obiang for the last 35 years, does not lack resources, but time is of the essence.
Authorities say they do not fear Ebola, despite the virus already causing almost seven thousand deaths in west Africa.
Indeed, Obiang said at the ceremony before Wednesday's draw in the capital Malabo that "all necessary measures" have been taken to ensure the tournament goes ahead without any incidents.
Fifty Cuban doctors have been recruited to fight to contain any outbreak of the virus, although Equatorial Guinea has not yet reported a single case.
The country says it is following the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to the letter, with measures including checking the temperature of all passengers arriving at Malabo airport.
But that leaves the crucial question of accommodation, transport and stadiums, the key concerns of competing teams.
The capital Malabo and the largest city, Bata, both hosted games at the 2012 Cup of Nations and are currently staging matches in the CEMAC (Economic Community of Central African States) Cup.
Adequate infrastructure is in place there with tournament organisers having already requisitioned the main hotels in the two cities and several local airlines assuring daily links between Malabo, on the island of Bioko, and Bata on the African mainland.
However, all the airlines in question feature on the European Union's blacklist.
The town of Mongomo, which will stage matches in Group C, involving Ghana, Algeria, Senegal and South Africa, and Ebebiyin - which were both selected at the last minute after Morocco's expulsion - are rather more thorny cases, with few hotels and venues that barely meet international standards.
The closest airport is at Mengomeyen (34 kilometres from Mongomo and 80 kilometres from Ebebiyin) but the Confederation of African Football (CAF) remain confident that all will go to plan, despite no visits being planned ahead of the tournament for the teams set to be based there.
Supporters and media, meanwhile, will just have to get by as best as they can.
- 'Into the unknown' -
"What will the accommodation and training conditions be like in Mongomo?" wondered Senegal coach Alain Giresse on Wednesday.
"There is a fear, we are heading into the unknown. The country is doing a big favour to the CAF but will it be possible to put everything in place in such a short time? I don't know, we will find out.
"We will all be subjected to the same conditions, unfortunately. But it is better to stage a competition in normal and correct conditions. That is what we hope."
Algeria captain Yazid Mansouri added: "We will have to adapt. We are discussing it amongst ourselves. We have faith in the CAF and the host nation to put us in the best conditions. But not everything will be perfect, the timing is really 'short'".
Meanwhile, veteran Frenchman Claude Le Roy, who has huge experience of the continent and is preparing to take part in his eighth Cup of Nations as coach of Congo, remains philosophical.
"We must thank Equatorial Guinea because otherwise the CAF would have been left with problems it could not resolve. But it will be an achievement if everything is organised well," he said.
Source: AFP